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BRIEF OF THE CHOCTAWS 

IN rectART) to the 

NET PROCEEDS OF THE SALES OF THEIR LANDS 

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES. 



The report of the Chairman of the Committee of Indian 
Affairs of July 6, 1868, in the House of Representatives, 
states well and ably all the details in this connection, giving 
accurately the figures which led to the result. A reference 
to this report and also to the memorial and supplemental 
statement of P. P. Pitchlynn, Choctaw delegate, will sliow 
the data of the present more condensed statement. 

It is a matter of public notoriety that the Choctaws once 
occupied homes east of the Mississippi river. 

As the white population pressed upon them the United 
States purchased the residue of their Eastern possessions, 
and they moved to their home west of the river. 

The Choctaws, claiming the proceeds of their ceded terri- 
tory, and other claims being persistently urged by them in 
connection therewith, after negotiations, which it is unneces- 
sary to particularize, the matter was finally referred to the 
Senate of the United States for adjudication. 

Pursuant to this reference the Senate, on the 9th of March, 
1859, made an award establishing the principle on which the 
Choctaw claim was to be settled, and referring the matter to 
the Secretary of the Interior to state an account in accor- 
dance therewith. 

This account is given in full in the report of the House 
Committee on Indian Affairs, already mentioned. 

Ic sums up with a balance due the Choctaws of S2,981,- 
247.30. 



2 

This balance the Senate changed by making certain re- 
ductions, also shown in the above report, leaving due as 
'' net proceeds," in their judgment, the sum of $2,382,560.85, 
towards paying which there was appropriated on the 2nd 
March, 1861, the sum of ,$500,000, one- half of which to be 
paid in money, and the other half in the bonds of the Uni- 
ted States. 

Thus, the amount admitted to be due to the Cboctaws at 
this time, as ascertained by the action of the Senate, con- 
firmed by the appropriation by both houses of the $500,000 
aforesaid, is the sum of $1,832,560.85. It will thus be seen 
that action is now asked — not to establish a doubtful claim — 
not to originate a new one — but to pay a debt ascertained 
under' treaty stipuhations — to satisfy a matter in judgment, 
and to carry out, in full, what was in part carrie 1 out in lb6l. 
The Choctaw Nation is impoverished ; its people are suf- 
fering ; its schools are falling to decay ; its very civilization, 
the object of so much care on the part oi the government, is 
in peril, for want of the means which the action ot Congress 
in the execution of its own legislation v/ould supply. 

P. P. PITCHLYNN, 
SAM'L GARLAND, 
PETER FOLSOM, 

Choctaw Delegates. 
January 30, 1869. 



OCT 9 1908 




REMARKS 

OF 

JOHN W. POLK 

BEFOEE THE 

COIMITTEE ON EEFOEM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE, 



vv,*^*" 



n Defence of his Action as Doorkeeper of the House of 
Representatives, Forty-Fifth Congress. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: It is not my j)urii(;)se 
to wenry yoii with ;i long- aro-nineiit in my defonc.o. Yon 
aic in possession of the facts in my case so far as they 
have been developed by the testimony. Upon them I rest 
with a tirm reliance in a fair and impai'tial repoi't to the 
Plonse by your honorable Connnittee. 

I think you will l)ear witn(?ss tliat from the begin- 
iiino- of this trial I have iutt attt'!ni>ted to evade the dis- 
closure of any public act of mine, nor to shirk the respon- 
sibility attaching thereto. In my own testimony I have 
not knowingly withheld any facts affecting my official con- 
<hict from you. 

I was arraigned on speciti*^ ciuu'ges, which I have an- 
swered, with what success your honorable Committee and 
the House of Rejjresentatives ai'e to be the judges. 1 



rii 



have never ()l)jecte(l tVoni tli(> first to tlie largest scope of 
iiivestig-ation, taking the stand myseU' (contrary to the es- 
tablished rules of practice) before my prosecutors, upon 
whom should have rested the responsibility of making 
their information good i)y proof, and thereby giving my 
army (»f enemies the advantage of casting their "drag- 
nets" in all channels to secure evidence to rebut my state- 
ments. I also believe tliat your honorable Committee will 
bear witness that at every stage of the investigation I ex- 
iiibited no nnwillingness to its taking the widest range, 
even to tlie extent of oi)j)osing the counsel of my al)le 
legal adviser, Judge Ilanna. When the judge first ap- 
peared in my behalf he supposed, as I in the beginning 
also had, tiiat the case would be conducted in accordance 
with the strict legal i-ules of evidence governing ordinary 
prosecutions in the courts, and that the informers would be 
requii-ed to sustain the allegations set forth in tlie a,ffidavits 
of (3orvell and Dutfy, accom|)anying tlie Baker resolution. 
HaviiiiT that view of the case, 1 prepared myself with testi- 
mony to show that the charges made i)y these two men 
were the culniinatioii and ix'sult of a conspiracry entered 
into !)y a numl)er of disappointed office-seekers and dis- 
charged office-holders, together with a few instigators in 
more respectable positions. That pur])ose was ai)andoned 
after the assurance had from your honorable Chainiiaii 
that it was unneccssarv to send tor witnesses to r(>but 
these chai'^es. it was with much reluctance, however, 
I hat 1 reliiii|iiishc(i my purpose of showing to the W(jrld 
who and what these conspirators were, for 1 then felt, as I 
now do, that it was an injustice to me that a Member of 
Cotii^ress >liould exercise the accidental privilege (conferred 
upon him bv a rub' of the HoJise to scatter broad-cast over 
the countrv, through the Congressional Record, -aw ex parte 
statement of two di.scharged employes of my department, 



^ unsiip])orte(l except Ity that Memher's own stuteinent tlmt 
lie had assurances that these men (Coryell and Dnff'y) were 
* respectable and worthy of belief, whicli he offered as an 
j*^s. apology t'or the introduction of his resolution. 
jT Therefore, gentlemen, I hope yon will appreciate the mo- 

► . tive that influenced my desire to unmask the enemies who, 
^. to injure me, have also attempted to cast odium ui)()n those 
' who elected me to 'otti(;e ; but that is past, so far at least as 
the investigation of your Connnittee is concerned, and I 
would res])ectfully ask your honorable Connnittee for a 
fair and impai-tial consideration of the facts In'ought forth 
during this trial. I claim from you no justification of any 
illegal act of mine if you cannot And it in my inexperi- 
ence, my motives, and the embarrassments that beset me 
trusting as I do to your discrimination between evil motives 
and errors of the head, bearing in mind the incessant im- 
portunities that harassed me day and night. I will further 
ask you not to overlook two important reasons for this 
never-ceasing pressure uj)on me for ap})ointments to the 
few^ places under my control : 

First. The number and distress of the applicants. 
Second. The sinall amount of Federal patronage in the 
gift of the Democratic party, there being but about two 
hundred positions, one-half of which are in the Doorkeep- 
er's department of the House. 

The general depression of i)usiness throughout the 
country for the past two ^'ears has thrown out of employ- 
ment many business men, young and old alike, who, in 
their ignorance, flock to Washington city to take their 
chances for employment ; another class, and the most per- 
sistent, are those who have been discharged from positions 
in the several departments of the Government. Each one 
of these place-hunters, and their name is legion, have a 
representative in the House, whose duty they consider it is 



to ii)i]>t)rtuiK' nit' tVn- relict", nuikiiig the pressure tenfold 
greater tliaii it was ^vitll my ]>redecessors in former Con- 
gresses. 

The cx]ienses of the Doorkeeper's department of the 
House, ineludinu- tlie folding of ])ublie documents, as shown 
by the letter of Mr. McPhcrson, the Clerk of the House of 
Repi'esentatives for tlie Forty-Third Congress, Miscellane- 
ous Document No. 10, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1873, was $162,680.44. The appropriation made for the 
same service, for the current fiscal 3'ear ending June 30, 
1878, is in all $105,210, showing a reduction of $57,470.44 
in favor of the ])resent Congress over the Forty-Thii-d. The 
amounts paid by special resolutions out of the contingent 
fund of the House are not estimated for either Congress. 

The Forty-Fourth Congress ap})ropriated for the current 
fiscal year, for the Doorkeeper's department of the House, 
$105,210, which includes $12,250 for folding public docu- 
ments. The appropriation for the same employes and 
uses in the Senate is $100,389, making the cost to each 
Representative $304.80, and to each Senator $1,320.09 — 
over one tho^isand dollars more to each Senator than to 
each Representative. 

From the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, trans- 
mitting estimates of the legislative expenses for the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1879, it will be seen that the ex- 
penses of the Government for each Senator is $5,830.87, 
and for each Representative $1,528.77, making the legisla- 
tive expenses of the House $4,302.10 less to each member 
than to each Senator. Exhibit on page 129 of the printed 
testimony sliows that there were at the second session of 
the Forty-fourth Congress, employed and paid by the 
House of Representatives, an extra force of forty-seven 
persons, at a cost of $8,952.21, or $97.38 per diem while 
employed. The extra force employed by me for the called 



session of the present Congress were paid under resolu- 
tion of the House, appropriiiting tlie sum of $3,840 for 
that purpose, at a cost of $80 per day for tlie time employed, 
showing a saving of $17.38 per diem to the Government 
for the same period of employment, notwithstanding the 
large number employed l)y me and some twelve others, 
paid under that resolution, who, it was found, had been 
doing work for the Government Avithout legal authority 
from me, but who, if not paid, would continue to harass 
the House and Committee on Accounts. 

If the House of Representatives had a force under the 
Doorkeeper according to members, equal to the force em- 
ployed and used for same purpose in the Senate, it would 
have 90 messengers, 75 pages, and 145 laborers. 

These statistics are not ])resented as an argument in 
favor of an increase of the messenger force in the House, 
for I now believe, since the hall has been transferred to the 
Sergeant-at-Arms, the force is quite sufficient. 1 am free 
to acknowledge I was mistaken about the numl)er of mes- 
sengers necessary. In connection with the foregoing facts, 
which I offer only to show the causes influencing my 
action at the time I made these extra ap}Jointments, on the 
1st of November, 1877, I also beg your consideration of 
the practices which, from long use and loose legislation, 
have grown almost into law, which, to say the least, are 
vexatious, and a source of great embarrassment to the 
officer at the head of my department. 

I now most respectfully ask this honoral)le Committee 
to consider what motive I could have had for making these 
illegal appointments other than a desire to suit the con- 
venience of the House. There was certainly no promise 
of either political or pecuniary gain. It was done in the 
confusion of a new organization, under what to me was a 
new condition of afi*airs, in which I honestly believed I was 



6 

doin»>- rio-ht. I believed it was the intention of the House 
that each leading eonmiittee shonld have a special niessen- 
ijer, who could act in the dual cai)acity of messenger and 
deputy clerk, for I knew^ then, and know now, that the best 
clerical talent can be secured for the salaries paid the mes- 
sengers. I have several messengers and laborers on my 
roll who are capable of filling the position of clerk to any 
committee of the House. 

In the labor force there was at that time a necessity for 
more than the law authorized, and will be again when the 
rush of public documents from the Government Printing 
OtHce is repeated. 

Yon liavc all the fa(;ts about the page-roll for December 
before you in the testimon3\ I have but little to say on 
that subject. When I discliarged all the boys on the loth 
of December, one-half of them finally, the other twenty- 
eiglit with the promise of reappointment on the 1st of Jan- 
nary, it would have been just as easy for me to have made 
up my roll with the 28 pages for the full month and ap- 
pealed to them to divide their salaries with their little com- 
rades (who had no hope of reappointment) as it was to 
arrange the roll in the manner I did ; there would have 
been no olijection or murmuring on the part of the boys, 
as there has been none ; but I preferred to have inj public 
acts on record. I l)elieved it was right and just, and I still 
believe so. I am jicrsuaded that there is not one gentle- 
men on this Committee who, if he had witnessed, as I 
did, the teai-s of these sad-hearted little representatives of 
widowed motiiers and orphan sisters and brothers, would not 
have taken some responsibility to comfort them, when he 
was doing no harm to the Government, costing it no more, 
and doing them great good, 

J rely upon yoiu' honorable Committee to do me simple 
juhtice. 1 sul>mit these views without the advice of 



£D 1.4 0,/;/^ 



any one, legal or otli<'i'\vise, which I mention as an 
excuse for any wi-oni^ conclusions (if law I may have 
advaiu^ed, for I am no lawyer. I never hefore held a poli- 
tical office, and it' this one is to hring- (h"sgrace on my family 
and on my name — which I have tin-ough life etideavored to 
protect from taint — I shall deplore the weakness that led 
me from the pursuits of private life. 




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